Dopamine & Tacos 🌮

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Happy Saturday friends!

Have you ever moved to a new area and found yourself missing something from the old so desperately? You drive around looking for something to replace it but, nothing. You go to the next town over, nothing. You search the internet. Nothing. This just can’t be!

You give up. It’s been two and a half years. There is no hope. The old standbys will have to do. They feel sad to you, but there are no options.😢

What in the world am I talking about this time?

Tacos. 🤣🤣🤣

We were really lucky to have lots of yummy restaurant options in Longmont, Colorado. Two of a long list of favorites were Jefe’s Tacos and Tequila and Cyclhops where I was introduced to taco options I had never had before: vegetarian tacos that were to die for. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm always open to bringing more veggies into my diet, especially if they are delicious!

It occurred to me last weekend that I could try to replicate them at home and I nailed one perfectly! I was giddy! I couldn’t stop thinking about it, or eating it for that matter lol I had it for lunch for the next three days.

Here they are, in all of their glory—aren't they beautiful?:

This one is sweet potato and green chili—this is what’s in it:

Roasted sweet potatoes (actually I think they are yams now that I think about it)
Pickled red onion (Brad makes it with maple syrup)
Feta
Chopped mild green chilis
Roasted & salted sunflower kernels
Cilantro
Avocado
And I toasted the corn tortillas straight on my gas stove

I will be making more this weekend! I think I’ll try to replicate Jefe’s “Squashacado” this time! And then next I'll be trying to figure out Jefe’s Bangin’ Cauliflower tacos. So happy to have some yummy tacos back in my life!

And if you know of a yummy and funky Mexican restaurant that I should try in Apex, Cary, Raleigh etc, let me know!

Things that made me happy this week:

The Murderbot Diaries—fun, fast, funny books!

This post on Facebook that my friend Laura shared:

I'm slowly learn to follow my joy/dopamine. It’s frustrating when I’m not doing it and, well, joyous when I am. Following my joy/dopamine brings flow in my life—things just work better!

Read the article from Occuplaytional Therapist about punishing neurodivergent children by refusing to give them the things they need (dopamine and/or sensory needs being met) until they have completed tasks—how it's like telling someone to build a tower with blocks but not allowing them to go get the blocks! Such an interesting read.

If you want to read more about Alex Korb, the UCLA neuroscience researcher, he wrote a book called the Upward Spiral and this website breaks down the info with New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy, another good read!

MEMORIES:

I wrote this article back in 2018, I’m still proud of it. It's about the Florida school shooting. It had hundreds of thousands of views and struck a chord in the world of moms like me, who have kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder. (My daughter has RAD. She does not live in our home anymore.)

What's crazy is that I just went and searched it, trying to find other things written about that shooting and I found that my words were stolen and put up on this website! OMG! Feel like raising a little hell? Send an email to them and tell them that what they did is NOT okay! Honestly I don't mind them sharing, but just credit me for writing it! Wow! (I've just done a quick search of the website, it might be defunct. I hope so. What a sucky thing to do. I'm still pissed!)

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And it was soon after that these two polar bears arrived and we never had another issue:

THE RANCH:

This week I was not following my joy/dopamine and was feeling all frustrated and angsty so I went out to the pasture and sat with the horses and donkeys for a bit. For the first time ever, Jaffee came and hung out with me and didn’t try to nibble at me constantly. Yay! When an animal joins the family, it always seems that they somewhat revert to being a baby. I’m not sure why this is, stress probably. I’ve only had a few that didn’t do this, Rayn was one of them. I think we’ve been together many times before so our bond was already formed in many life times. I think Jaffee must be truly new to me, no past experiences, so he is stressed and reverts—this is my theory anyway. But this day, after exploring me with his mouth for awhile and heightening my own stress (nibbles are not particularly fun or safe) he calmed down, stood behind me with his chin on my shoulder and breathed into my ear for awhile, eyes half mast. I gave him little kisses on his soft muzzle and breathed with him. It was so lovely.

They all took turns being with me in one way or another. Here is Wynter after his breathing into the top of my head session:

He and Rayn both have stood behind me and breathed into me over the years which lead me to create this little piece of art back in 2018, still one of my favorites:

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It was a hay week here on our little ranch:

Every time B-Rad goes to pick it up we both laugh incredulously. This is now 👆🏽

That was then 👇🏽:

Colorado hay was a whole different ballgame!

Now we get about 40 bales at a time, every 5-6 weeks. Over a year we buy about 400 bales of hay. It's always from another state, they don't typically grow orchard/timothy blend here in North Carolina. We have to feed year round here because our place is so much smaller and doesn't grow good grass.

In Colorado we bought it once a year, in July typically, and it was local (because they had irrigation water and didn't (couldn't) rely on rain water.) We bought about 540 bales and we only fed 6 months out of the year because the other half of the year everyone was eating the grass (horses, mini donkeys, goats/kids, sheep/lambs):

It was so much fun but it was a lot more work! :-)

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"Baby" Dancer is 3 months into her 5 month pregnancy. Here she is with her mom Alaska. Dancer is further away with the white face on right and Alaska is curled around with her head resting on her grandchildren 🥰 Zoom in!:

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Still playing with creating babies from my mom's (and her mom's before that) huge African Violet. First I put a leaf in water and waited for it to root. In the one on the right, I waited long enough that it started growing little leaves under water. Cool! I planted it and it pretty much stayed this way for a year. Just recently it grew a new little set of leaves in the center.

The pot on the left: I did the same with the leaf, let it grow roots in water but as soon as it had a good set, I planted it. It sat for a year in this pot, doing nothing. Well, I suppose it has continued to grow roots. And then suddenly these little leaves appeared! And they look so strong and green and vibrant compared to the tiny anemic leaves on the right. Interesting little experiment.

About a month or more ago, the deer decided that they were hungry enough to come all the way up to the house in the night—risking the wrath of I Love Lucy through the windows, and eat the fern and azaleas. Azaleas set their buds by mid to late summer of the year before and then bloom in the spring. Our azaleas were pretty much decimated so I figured we wouldn't get any blooms this year. I just saw this:

THE MEMES:

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Hey guess what???

I'm looking for women who are interested in joining a Spring Women's Coaching Circle here at the ranch.

It will be:
• outside in the coaching barn
• surrounded by the horses, mini donkeys, and goats—and some will sometimes be in with us
• it will involve some artsy—but the kind that anyone can do, not things for framing
• once a week for 8 weeks
• a place of safety and community
• don't have exact dates or times yet, just looking for interested women right now!

If you're interested in joining me and my co-coaching animals—Contact me here.

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